There's a better word for what I am: an apatheist.
It's a neologism that fuses "apathy" and "theism." It means someone who has absolutely no interest in the question of a god's (or gods') existence, and is just as uninterested in telling anyone else what to believe.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

As I noted in my previous post, St. Sleazy McCain has been calling for a congressional investigation on the Benghazi attack. As all the political talk shows will tell you, Sen. McCain is a very serious person. In fact, he's so serious that when the Senate Homeland Security Committee (on which he sits) received a closed door briefing on Benghazi yesterday, he failed to show up.

If there's anyone in Washington who would benefit from a detailed
briefing on what actually transpired in Benghazi in September, it's the
senator who's throwing fits over what he thinks happened in Benghazi in
September.
As luck would have it, the Senate Homeland Security
Committee, which McCain is a member of, received a classified,
closed-door briefing for nearly two hours yesterday, receiving
up-to-date information. What did McCain learn from the briefing? Nothing
-- according to the Republican ranking member on the committee, McCain failed to show up.
But what's unclear is why McCain didn't bother to attend the lengthy
briefing on a subject he claims to care so deeply about. McCain had time
yesterday to appear in front of cameras to talk about Benghazi, but
didn't have time to get more information about Benghazi?Update: According to a CNN report,
McCain hosted his press conference demanding more information during
the hearing in which he could have received more information.Second Update: Josh Rogin also reported, "[A]lthough
McCain had time to speak on the Senate floor and on television about
the lack of information provided to Congress about the attack, he didn't attend the classified briefing."
"If
you want answers, a good first step is to show up and ask a question,"
an administration official told Rogin. "That's what a senator does."maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/11/15/15190778-mccain-doesnt-have-time-for-facts-information?lite

Instead, St. Sleazy was holding his own press conference demanding more information. He was too busy grandstanding to actually hear the information he was requesting. Unless he's actually completely senile, this is flat out rank hypocrisy at its worst.
Added: His staff now says it was a "scheduling error." Alrighty, then...

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Now that Obama has won a second term, it's time for the rethugs to try to find a scandal, even if they have to make one up. So far, Benghazi and Petraeus are the early entries.
Benghazi may have been a security miscalculation, but I can't see how this adds up to a "scandal". Yes, it was a tragedy. Yes, the consulate wasn't secure enough given how unstable Libya still is. But you cannot conduct diplomacy by insulating behind walls and marines. A risk was taken, and, sadly, we lost four people. But somehow St. Sleazy McCain and Ms. Lindsay Graham want to make this the new Watergate. They're starting by attacking Susan Rice, although I find it odd that they feel the UN Ambassador is somehow responsible. The investigation will be a carnival sideshow, with plenty of grandstanding, but in the end Benghazi is a tragedy, not a scandal.
(BTW: If you really want to find a diplomatic scandal with a woman named "Rice", I suggest you look into the previous administration.)
Then we have the Petraeus/Kelly/Broadwell/Allen soap opera...I'm not quite sure how they'll blame Obama for this, but I'm sure somehow the right wing will. There is sex involved, so the media loves this story. I'll admit, I'm not comfortable with the CIA director having affairs that become public, but that's because I prefer a chief spy who can keep a secret. I'm old fashioned that way. Expect long hearings in the House on this one, but no real scandal.Remember the Clinton years? Investigate everything, regardless of the facts. What started with a bad real estate deal (the Clintons lost $30,000 on whitewater) led to the travel office, then the Christmas Card list, before they finally found a blow job. It took years, but they finally found a "scandal".In reality, Obama, like Clinton, is guilty of being President while a member of the Democratic party. And the repubs are going to do their very best to convict him of it.